Local anesthesia is any technique to induce the absence of
sensation in a specific part of the body, generally for the aim of inducing
local analgesia, that is, local insensitivity to
pain, although other local senses may be affected as well. It allows patients to undergo surgical and
dental procedures with reduced pain and distress. In many situations, such as
cesarean section, it is safer and therefore superior to
general anesthesia. It is also used for relief of non-surgical pain and to enable diagnosis of the cause of some chronic pain conditions.
Anesthetists sometimes combine both general and local anesthesia techniques.